Tánaiste Simon Coveney has met with the so-called Hooded Men in Leinster House concerning Government backing for their appeal against a European Court of Justice ruling which has concluded that they weren’t tortured in British custody in 1971.

Solicitor for the group, Darragh Mackin, speaking to the Irish Mirror after the meeting, said that he is optimistic Mr Coveney will support the case at the Grand Chamber, the highest court in the European courts system, when it comes up there for appeal again in the coming months.

He said that it was a “very constructive meeting” where the Hooded Men had “unequivocally set out their concerns” and are “expecting that the Irish Government will back their appeal in Europe.”

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The Hooded Men are a group of 14 republican and nationalist Irishmen that were interned without trial and subject to horrific treatment as part of Operation Demetrius from August to October 1971.

The men say they have suffered lifelong pain and suffering owing to what happened to them almost 47 years ago.

In an Oireachtas briefing room yesterday, two of the men, Liam Shannon and Francie McGuigan, gave searing testimonies of the harrowing treatment they endured.

Their near 50 year battle for justice centres around what was done to them when secretly held in a purpose-built interrogation centre, where they eventually found out was on an army base in Ballykelly, County Derry.

Some of the extreme interrogation techniques used on the men included being hooded, made stand in a stress position for long periods and being beaten if they fell, exposure to loud static noise and bright lights, and being deprived of sleep, food and water for days on end.

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The men were also taken up in helicopters while hooded and thrown out in mid-air.

The height of the floating helicopter was only three to five feet off the ground, but the Hooded Men were led to believe they were far higher up in the sky and believe they were being thrown to their deaths when they were tossed overboard.

The interrogation typically went on for seven days and is what many would regard as torture, but which British and European courts have decided is something short of that, being described instead as “degrading and humiliating treatment.”

There were 14 members of the Hooded Men group originally, but four have since passed away, with the oldest living now 85 and the youngest 66.

International human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney, wife of Hollywood A-lister George Clooney, is part of the legal team representing the hooded men and it is understood that Mr Clooney has also taken an interest in the case.